Those who seek God, says Niffarī, are of three kinds: _firstly_, the worshippers to whom God makes Himself known by means of bounty, _i.e._ they worship Him in the hope of winning Paradise or some spiritual recompense such as dreams and miracles; _secondly_, the philosophers and scholastic theologians, to whom God makes Himself known by means of glory, _i.e._ they can never find the glorious God whom they seek, wherefore they assert that His essence is unknowable, saying, “We know that we know Him not, and that is our knowledge”; _thirdly_, the gnostics, to whom God makes Himself known by means of ecstasy, _i.e._ they are possessed and controlled by a rapture that deprives them of the consciousness of individual existence. Niffarī bids the gnostic perform only such acts of worship as are in accordance with his vision of God, though in so doing he will necessarily disobey the religious law which was made for the vulgar. His inward feeling must decide how far the external forms of religion are good for him. “God said to me, Ask Me and say, ‘O Lord, how shall I cleave to Thee, so that when my day (of judgment) comes, Thou wilt not punish me nor avert Thy face from me?’ Then I will answer thee and say, ‘Cleave in thy outward theory and practice to the Sunna (the rule of the Prophet), and cleave in thy inward feeling to the gnosis which I have given thee; and know that when I make Myself known to thee, I will not accept from thee anything of the Sunna but what My gnosis brings to thee, because thou art one of those to whom I speak: thou hearest Me and knowest that thou hearest Me, and thou seest that I am the source of all things.’” The commentator observes that the Sunna, being general in scope, makes no distinction between individuals, _e.g._ seekers of Paradise and seekers of God, but that in reality it contains exactly what each person requires. The portion specially appropriate in every case is discerned either by means of gnosis, which God communicates to the heart, or by means of guidance imparted by a spiritual director. “And He said to me, ‘My exoteric revelation does not support My esoteric revelation.’” This means that the gnostic need not be dismayed if his inner experience conflicts with the religious law. The contradiction is only apparent. Religion addresses itself to the common herd of men who are veiled by their minds, by logic, tradition, and so on; whereas gnosis belongs to the elect, whose bodies and spirits are bathed in the eternal Light. Religion sees things from the aspect of plurality, but gnosis regards the all-embracing Unity. Hence the same act is good in religion, but evil in gnosis--a truth which is briefly stated thus: “The good deeds of the pious are the ill deeds of the favourites of God.”